“…as Essau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”
In ancient times, when the Father died his first born son inherited the leadership of the family. He was given judicial authority, the mantle of priesthood, the superior rank amongst his own tribe as well as his fathers position amongst other tribes and a double inheritance of the paternal portion. For some meat, Essau sold all of his birthright. Meat! Let that sink in.
Now, before we judge, let’s take out the plank and examine our own lives. We too stand to inherit a birthright from our Heavenly Father and it is far superior to any earthly possessions we could ever amass, but to receive it we must have faith in His son and show our faith by how we live our lives. And yet we are constantly selling our birthright for meat.
The meat represents the desires of the flesh. In the world some pursue money, power, fame, lust- all manner of pleasures that feed the flesh but starve the soul. But there are much more subtle ways we can sell our birthright. With extra time on our hands during this stay home order, many of us have picked new shows to watch on TV- but are they all pleasing to God? Instances of abuse always go up during times of turmoil- but Christian, how has your anger (sin) been?
What idols have sprung up in place of extra time in the Word or on your knees? What things has the Holy Spirit repeatedly brought to your attention that you refuse to work on or give up? We may try to fool ourselves into believing that these worldly pursuits aren’t as bad as some, but our God is a Holy God, he cannot abide with any manner of sin. Every action we take that is contrary to the Word is risking our birthright, yet we continually allow our flesh to overpower our desire to follow God.
That old saying “you don’t know what you had until you lose it” rings true for many situations in life. Essau treated his inheritance flippantly- what he stood to gain in the future mattered little compared to what would satisfy him right at that moment. But, oh! He wept bitterly when the time came to receive his inheritance and he was rejected. There was no do-over or take backs and no amount of crying or pleading could regain him the position he lost.
Deuteronomy 6:15 “For the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.” We have seen God’s character revealed again and again throughout the Bible as His mercy led Him to save humanity when he threatened to destroy them. But friends, Jesus Christ is coming back to claim His bride and when that trumpet sounds that’s it…time is up.
When He returns, don’t let that moment find you crying bitterly because you traded your chance at eternity with Christ for a momentary pleasure on earth. This is not our best life! Nothing is worth missing out on heaven, nothing. Resolve today, right now, to go all in for Jesus, to sell your stake in this world so that you can jubilantly claim your heavenly birthright when He returns.
Whitney Holz
#EverythingUnderTheSon
